Holoride, the Munich-based startup co-founded by Audi that looks to change everyday travel by injecting VR into the passenger’s experience, is offering free rides in Los Angeles starting this week to demonstrate the technology to the public.
Unveiled back at CES earlier this year, Holoride is a platform that essentially integrates the car’s movement into VR content, letting backseat passengers view video, and play games and experiences using a VR headset.
To that effect, the company announced its demoing its service to the public for free for a limited time, starting on October 14th and going through November 9th. If you’re in the LA area, or plan to be during that time, you can sign up here.
Although previously shown in an Audi e-tron SUV showcasing IP from Disney’s Marvel franchise, this time the start-up has partnered with Ford and Universal Pictures.
Created in partnership with Universal, the spooky game Bride of Frankenstein will be offered to holoriders aboard the new 2020 Ford Explorer; the game tasks you with fighting off creepy creatures of the night on the 10-minute adventure.
One of the advertised benefits of the platform is its ability to lessen the chance of motion sickness, which occurs when a VR user perceives motion that doesn’t match up with what they expect. For this public test, the creators advise users already prone to motion sickness and dizziness not to risk it though.
The company said back at CES 2019 that it intends on launching its integrated VR system within the next three years using standard VR headsets for backseat passengers. The company maintains that the long-term roadmap could see things like traffic events becoming a part of the experience, i.e. if you stop at a traffic light you could encounter unexpected obstacles in a game or interrupt a learning program with a quick quiz.
Since this month’s public demo will conducted on actual city streets, and not the race track used back at CES, it will be interesting to see just how far the company has come on their mission to integrate their system into real-world driving conditions.